Tauranga City Council

Are you one of those people who see red when you see an orange road cone? 😡 We get it, which is why we’re trialing a new way of working on road maintenance that will see fewer of them on our roads. Read more here bit.ly/3W639kA

🚴♂️ Keep calm and pedal on 🚴 Need somewhere to park your bike when you're out and about in Tauranga this summer? We've got you covered! Read more here https://bit.ly/3DIC7JW

Mount Maunganui business owner Fleur Sandford is full of praise when it comes to recent safety improvements around the Central Parade shops along Maunganui Road.   “The upgrades have helped create a much safer area in and around Central Parade, where people previously tended to speed along Maunganui Road. Getting in and out of Heath Street was especially dangerous – there were a lot of near misses that we would see or hear.” The Maunganui Road safety improvement project aimed to create a safer, more accessible environment for all road users, with upgrades including new roundabouts, safer bike lanes, and pedestrian crossings. Read more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gyDtFPEV

Tamariki (children) at BestStart Bayfair joined the construction and landscaping crew on the Arataki bus hub project recently. Thanks to project contractor Downer and Tauranga City Council, kids got the chance to be budding project managers, site managers and landscapers. The upgraded bus hub, which opened last week, is ideally located across the road from BestStart Bayfair, says centre manager Amy. “The new bus hub facilities are a huge benefit to our centre as we often take the children on excursions to Mauao, the library and out into the community." Downer, BestStart, Rick Curach, Jen Scoular, Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council

Waitaha Reserve in Welcome Bay is ready for play! The transformation has been underway since May this year and includes: 🏀 a new basketball court and a new playground 🛹 a refurbished skate park 🥙 new shaded picnic area and bike racks 👨🦽 paved walkways and improved accessibility for wheelchairs and prams 🌳 a new grassed amphitheatre and additional tree planting. It’s definitely worth checking out this summer.

Arataki is a bustling area, with thousands of people passing through each day. With the opening of the newly upgraded bus hub this week, this place of connections now provides a safer, friendlier welcome to all those who journey through it. The upgraded facility features vibrant mahi toi (artwork) elements from local hapū, a new shared user path, improved streetlights and more. Local artist Stu McDonald (Ngā Rauru, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngati Rehua, Ngāti Tapu) in conjunction with rangatahi/students from the Ahipoutu Collective, has woven various elements into the new shelters including kera wēra (killer whale), kōtare (kingfisher), tui, tuna (eel), and matuku moana (white-faced heron). “Throughout the shelters, we’ve chosen to use kaitiaki (guardians) or spirt animals to emphasise how our tūpuna (ancestors) lived in harmony with everything. One of the things I wanted to show was kotahitanga (unity), not just unity as a people but our unity with the environment.” 👉 Read more here:  https://lnkd.in/g5kp2ERj

Let’s try giving less to landfill this Christmas.  Across New Zealand, we’ll use an estimated 1.6million kgs of wrapping paper alone. That's about 10,000 trees 😔. But it doesn’t have to be this way…  Much of what we enjoy using for Christmas that ends up in our landfill can be made at home with existing materials or reused for years to come.  Looking for some ideas to reduce waste without compromising on festivities?  🎁 Make some homemade decorations  🎁 Give experiences for something different this year   🎁 Use gift wrapping that can be reused or recycled (not the glossy or shiny stuff)  🎁 Shop consciously to minimise food waste  🎁 Make you own Christmas crackers - they’ll go off with a bang! 👉 https://shorturl.at/EFbF6

37,000. That’s the approximate number of people living with a disability in Tauranga. To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Bay of Plenty Steamrollers invited our new Councillors to a friendly, but fierce, game of wheelchair rugby. Former All Black and Tauranga City Councillor Kevin “Herb” Schuler says he has massive respect for the players after getting schooled in playing wheelchair rugby. “It’s a really incredible thing to experience firsthand, just to understand the challenges people face day to day and therefore what we can do as a city and a council to make it easier for people to get around”. Welcome Bay Ward Councillor Hautapu Baker agrees saying “It’s really good for us to get amongst the community, do things with them and have a bit of fun”. Parafed Bay of Plenty Deputy Chair Amanda Lowry's smile says it all. “Being in a chair and playing wheelchair rugby is just freedom, when you don’t have a lot of function this is like an absolute gamechanger, and you find your community when you come into spaces like this.” says Amanda Council’s work to create a more accessible city includes the recent launch of the Tauranga Access Map, an online accessibility app with information about accessible amenities at our parks, playgrounds, council facilities and public events. It also shows the nearest mobility park to your location, beach mats for beach visits in summer. #bayofpleantysteamrollers #Parafedbop #TCC

We’re stoked to host the Skateboard Nationals in 2025 for the first time ever, and so is Tauranga Deputy Mayor and Mauao/Mount Maunganui Ward Councillor Jen Scoular. 🛹🎉 Next March, some of NZ’s top skateboarders will descend upon Mount Maunganui’s popular Destination Skatepark and Blake Park’s Vert Ramp for the Skateboard Nationals, NZ’s premier skateboarding event.   It’s awesome to work with Skateboarding New Zealand (SBNZ) Inc and TECT to bring this amazing event to the Bay.   Get your skate on and read more here 👉 https://shorturl.at/sG2aZ

Say hello to some of the new faces we’ve welcomed to Council this week! These 21 university students will be completing internships and research projects with us this summer. They’ll apply what they’ve learnt at university across community-based projects, from emergency management to heritage and research, and more.